The Wey Forward Issue 9, September - November 2018

The Wey Valley Methodist Circuit

The Wey Valley Methodist Circuit came into being on 1st September 2016. It was formed by the joining of 13 churches in the Guildford and Woking & Walton-on-Thames circuits. Each church has its own distinctive personality and gifts, and continues to look forward to mutual sharing and support and to responding together to the gospel of God's love in the community and the wider world. (For those not familiar with the term, a “circuit" is an administrative group of Methodist Churches in the same geographical area).

Our churches can be found in :

 Addlestone  Byfleet  Cranleigh  Godalming  Guildford  Knaphill  Merrow  Sheerwater  Stoughton  Walton-on-Thames  West Horsley  Weybridge  Woking

If you are a visitor or newcomer to the area, or living here and seeking a church for the first time, please use our website - www.weyvalleycircuit.org.uk to find a church that meets your spiritual and pastoral needs. We have included links to the websites of all of our churches in the circuit but you can also contact the Circuit Office for more information. The office is open each weekday morning from 9am to 1pm and Sue Howson, the Circuit Administrator, can be contacted on [email protected] or 07808 046451.

This quarterly newsletter aims to showcase what is going on around the Circuit, provide relevant information for the forthcoming quarter and offer some thought provoking articles.

Sue Howson Editor

Welcome The Circuit is delighted to welcome two new ministers and we all look forward to getting to know them and their families. Rev Keith Beckingham Keith Beckingham has been Superintendent of the Brownhills & Willenhall Circuit since 2014. His move to the West Midlands followed appointments in the Christchurch & Lymington Circuit from 2003 to 2012, (where he was Superintendent), and, following circuit amalgamation, the Christchurch & Wimborne Circuit. He previously served for 16 years in the Swinton and Chorley Circuits. Before transferring to the Methodist Church Keith was a Salvation Army officer, subsequently studying for two years at Hartley Victoria College Manchester. He also holds a postgraduate diploma in Applied Theology from Westminster College Oxford. Keith’s wife, Hilary, (who is a local preacher), was also a Salvation Army officer and they have a grown up family living in Hampshire and South Yorkshire. Keith has experience of chaplaincy in a variety of settings and is particularly interested in developing links between mission and pastoral counselling as well as the use of music as a tool for mission. Looking forward to his appointment as Superintendent Keith said “Hilary and I are delighted that the next chapter of our lives will be shared with the Wey Valley Circuit and we pray that together we will discover more of the grace of God as we pursue the path of Christian discipleship .“

Rev Sydney Samuel Lake

Hello, my name is Sydney Samuel Lake. I join the Wey Valley Circuit with pastoral oversight for Walton-on-Thames, Weybridge and Addlestone Methodist Churches. I am married to Hawa, who is a qualified social worker and we care for our two children: Sydney David and Grace Samuella. Prior to full time ministry I studied Accountancy, completed an MBA and then worked as a Chartered Management Accountant in the Public Sector particularly for Local Authorities. Since studying Theology Ministry and Mission at the Queens Foundation in Birmingham, I now consider myself as a traditional Methodist. I love to practice the best of Methodist original traditions in addition to new ways of doing church. I pray, that God’s Holy Spirit may help and guide us as we serve the people of God in our community and for more people to offer themselves over to God’s service. Loving regards

Sydney Samuel

News from around the Circuit

Addlestone Billy Graham’s influence on our Café Style Evening Service. Tell Scotland - 1955 I was working and living in Scotland at the time and my girlfriend asked me if I would accompany her to one of his Tell Scotland events in Glasgow. It was a major and very moving occasion and many attending went to the front to commit to a Christian life. The one thing in particular I remember was Billy Graham telling us all that our commitment was just a first step for us. Is your church ready to welcome people when they enter it for the first time and would the experience encourage them to come back? Of the many thoughts that went into our Café Style Service this question was one of them. Could we, sixty plus years later, respond positively to that question? We hope we can and do.

Come and join us at our next Café Style Service on 14th October

In case you are wondering; yes, I married that girl; Jenny by name and it was the best thing I ever did. Fred Rowe

Byfleet

We are looking forward to a number of exciting events in the coming quarter.

Join us at one of our regular coffee mornings: Saturdays Sept 8th, Oct 13th (for All We Can) and Nov 10th. Sept 8th-9th is National Heritage Weekend and the church will be open for visitors throughout. See our Art Deco architecture. We host our Harvest Supper with Country & Western concert on Sept 22nd at 7.00pm There will be a Salvation Army concert and Sunday afternoon tea — details tba

During Advent Weekend (1st-2nd December) the church will be open all weekend; coffees, lunches and teas available; international display of nativity sets. To all churches in the circuit: "Please do you have nativity scenes we can borrow for the weekend?" Contact [email protected]. We will have another Saturday night Christmas concert by Wey Voices on 1st Dec at 7.30pm

Margaret Watts

Be the best you can

Across our churches we have dedicated and willing volunteers who undertake all sorts of tasks; each one essential to enable our churches to offer worship Sunday by Sunday. However, the world in which we are asking our folk to do this requires us to demonstrate that they have been appropriately resourced - through training and support - to do the work. The Circuit has purchased some on-line training from a company called iHasco so that people can enhance their skills and make sure that they are aware of best working practices and, in some cases, health and safety regulations. The courses are generally quite short and they do not need to be completed all in one go. The tests at the end shouldn’t be seen as anything daunting but as a way of measuring understanding of the course material. As well as being informative they are FUN and FREE to sign up for. You can choose to complete any or all of the courses below—whichever would be helpful to you personally.

• Accident reporting • Electrical safety • Bomb threats and suspicious packages • Fire awareness • Health and safety basics • Ladder safety • Working at height • Manual handling • Noise awareness • Slips, trips and falls • Cyber security awareness • Display screen equipment • Lone working in the workplace • Food allergy awareness • Food safety and hygiene – levels 1 and 2

Please note because we have to follow the Methodist guidelines the following courses are not to be taken – Data protection, GDPR Essentials and GDPR for Managers. If you are interested, contact me with your email address and the name of the course/s you would like to do. If you’re not sure I’m happy to chat through any queries or concerns you may have.

Sue Howson ([email protected] or 07808 046451)

Cranleigh

We in Cranleigh have been continuing to explore our present state and to plan for the future, following the outlines suggested by ‘Appreciating Church’. We have been greatly helped in this by Natalie Newton who visited us at the June Church Council and also at the service on June 24th when people sat at tables and discussed their various priorities. Claire our minister has supported these discussions all along, (particularly at our recent Church Anniversary and at our AGM), and although people’s views differ, we are beginning to reach some kind of consensus under these priority headlines: Children Youth and Families, general Outreach, Global Issues and Teaching and Study. We realised that at times these various subjects overlap which means we revisit some concerns under two or more headings. This may well be a good thing! The fulfilment of some of our plans under the above headings will be helped by the acquiring of funds to begin, at last, the planned work on our church building We should be able to increase our efforts to help families in need, those in need of a listening ear or even those who would appreciate a cup of tea on a cold winter afternoon! Our work with refugees would be easier with more space, and we could start an after-school club. Premises could perhaps be used more in the evenings too. However, we remain aware that we are an ageing congregation who are hoping to be joined by younger people with more energy, though they alas are, the ones who have little spare time! Perhaps we could help them with baby-sitting? At the Lions Fair in Cranleigh on June 30th our church organised a stall, as we still need to raise funds. People did well selling bric-a-brac and other goods in the beautiful summer sunshine – total yet to be finalised, but should reach over £100. Other members helped at various other stalls, or provided cooked sausages for the hungry, so we were well represented! We held our Choir Anniversary on July 1st, when the preacher and celebrant of Holy Communion was Rev Barrie Tabraham from Merrow, an old friend. Barrie chose some fine hymns and a Communion Liturgy based on words of some Wesley hymns. His sermon concentrated on the important part music, instrumental and vocal, has played in worship. The four anthems sung by the augmented choir showed God’s loving care for us, his children.

Barrie returned to our church on the evening of July 15th when he introduced us to a Taize form of worship.

On the morning of July 15th, we bade farewell to our minister Claire after four years of her energy and care. This was her final Communion Service, and many to attended this service to give best wishes for the future to both Claire and her husband John as they embark on this new stage of their lives together. Many people also joined us for lunch - the last opportunity to say thank you to them both.

Glenda Sewell

7 Alternative Worship There is growing interest in alternative worship in the circuit and this will be the discussion topic at the November preachers and worship leaders’ meeting. Evening alternative worship is planned at Merrow, 9th September, 14th October, and 11th November, and Walton will be hosting Pudding and Praise on the evening of 25th November. Addlestone will have café style worship Sunday evening 14th October and Weybridge 28th October. Following their Appreciating Church Survey, Merrow agreed to hold a series of café style morning services answering big questions. Rev Asif Das started the series in June, with how to follow, read and understand the Bible. Lyn McKay will lead worship based on the question “How does God speak to us?” on 23rd September. On 28th October Rev Peter Hills will take the question, “ How can God let people suffer?” and on 25th November Rev Barrie Tabraham will lead the service on “ Heaven and Hell.” These were all questions raised by the congregation.

Lyn McKay

All are welcome to our alternative evening services (in addition to the planned evening communion services) taking place:

Date Church Service 9 September Merrow ATS led by Sydney Samuel Lake 14 October Addlestone Café Style Service led by Paul Hulme 14 October Merrow ATS led by Keith Beckingham 21 October Cranleigh ATS led by Keith Beckingham 28 October Weybridge Café Style Service led by Keith Beckingham 11 November Merrow ATS led by Allan Taylor 25 November Walton Pudding and Praise led by Sydney Samuel Lake

Godalming United Church At the time of writing we are well into a summer heatwave – and greatly appreciating the enlarged and improved patio at the rear of the church. For our Anniversary in June it was laid out under parasols for an al fresco lunch and musical entertainment – the new step-free access to the adjoining River Room being much appreciated.

The terrace with its superb riverside location was brought into use again on the first Saturday in July when the church hosted an afternoon cream tea for members, friends and newcomers - an outreach event preceded by a leaflet drop of 500 in the nearby Catteshall area where new homes have been springing up in recent years.

Our Mission-and-Outreach team have been busy as ever. In June we ran a stall at the riverside Town Duck Race, promoting our work in The Gambia and the Whitechapel Appeal. The children’s hook-a- duck game was particularly popular, and as a result 5 more people in The Gambia will be able to have a sight-saving cataract operation!

At the beginning of July Mission-and-Outreach ran a midweek cake sale – coinciding with the end of term dancing class open-house. Another nifty opportunity to raise money for The Gambia ophthalmic unit. In addition, many members have been busy helping with the annual Whitechapel Appeal for food, clothing and toiletries for the east-end mission for the homeless.

Across the quiet summer period major work will be happening to our Hall floor. The wood blocks that have been well looked after for 115 years suffered in the big flood of December 2013 - when river water lapped at the door, didn’t quite enter, but caused saturation beneath the surface. Several blocks have rotted and they will now all be removed to be replaced with a recycled gypsum-based screed board topped with a vinyl surface similar to the other rooms in the church – except for the church itself where, happily, the original wood blocks are in good condition.

A new venture in the school summer holiday is our participation in Godalming’s annual Staycation – a nine-day event in which organisations around the town provide all-age activities for those Staying at home for vacation. We are doing our bit with a Messy Church special on the theme of “loaves and fishes” concluding with a picnic lunch on the patio. Do come and join in the fun at 10:30am on August 10th.

Looking further ahead, our Harvest Festival will be at 10:30am on Sunday October 14th – always a joyful occasion, with shared fellowship over lunch.

Nancy Wilks

Expenses Claims Please don’t forget to regularly submit your travel expenses. The Methodist year end is 31st August so it is useful if expenses up to that date could be submitted by end of September. If you need a expenses claim form please contact Sue in the Circuit Office and she will send one over by email or in the post.

For information please contact Sue Howson in the Circuit Office

Guildford St Mary’s

“I’d rather be a Methodist than pay those prices!”, an unsolicited exclamation calculated to make me think from the passenger in the seat next to me on a recent flight when he saw the airline’s price list for little cans of beer. He knew nothing about me or my lifelong involvement with Methodism. It set me thinking …..What are we known for? What do we stand for? How do we convey the Good News in ways relevant to our communities today? What are our priorities? All questions we have to ask. Our immediate past President acknowledged that Methodism in Britain is (at least at the moment) a declining church but emphasised that our Gospel is not in decline. We need to focus on those questions and how we best convey that Gospel to those around us. The Church nationally has appointed a Director of Evangelism and Growth and it will be interesting to see in what ways he seeks to inspire evangelism, for it has to be something undertaken at a local level. These are questions are highly relevant for us at St Mary’s as we continue with our journey seeking to capitalise on the extraordinary opportunities we have to engage with the thousands of visitors who call in each year and to whom we aim to offer glimpses of God. We are learning and, hopefully, getting better at that with the support of wonderful ecumenical partners. We need to move further and explore avenues taking people beyond the initial warm welcome and engagement and that has to be a focus over the coming year. During the Autumn we will welcome hundreds of visitors in our Heritage Weekend opening and then hundreds more will visit our church in October as part of Guildford Shakespeare Company’s production of Alice in Wonderland. Please pray for us that we may make the most of the opportunities offered. In June we trialled Still Mondays, building around two existing Monday lunchtime activities, so we can provide a contemplative prayerful activity every Monday lunchtime. We hope to make this a permanent feature from the Autumn so please watch the Circuit and Guildford Methodist Church websites for further details. November will see Common Ground mount an exhibition Dust and Glory – another fresh way of telling the Christian story. Watch out for details on the websites. Nigel Campion-Smith

Knaphill

We are really pleased with the way the clothing bank is being used, we have helped a number of Syrian Refugee families and last week one lady was very emotional about the generosity of people who donate the clothes. It has taken a while to get going but now is bearing fruit as a work of outreach in the community. Dates for Clothing bank over the next few months are 15th Sept, 20th Oct, 17th Nov. Our Monthly Coffee mornings are still proving very popular as well being a great boost to the church coffers. Dates for the next few months are 25th Aug, 22nd Sept, 27th Oct. At our last coffee morning the family of one of our members for many years, Jack Rutter, presented a bench to go outside our church in his and his wife's memory. A large number of his extended family came to see the dedication and presentation.

Barbara Humphries

Merrow As I write this, we are having a busy time at Merrow! With summer here, our first ‘Holiday at Home’ will include a number of fun activities but with a ‘thought for the day’ each morning which will help everyone focus on the presence of God in all we do. If this venture is a success, we hope to broaden its appeal to non-members, and extend it to attract more friends from the local community. One of the interesting products of the ‘Appreciating Church’ process at Merrow, has been the request (at our recent Annual General Church Meeting) from members that we explore difficult questions relating to our faith on selected Sunday mornings in the future. Here are some of the questions! • Is it just Christians who go to heaven; is there really a place called ‘hell’, and do people go to heaven when they die, or on ‘the last day’? • How seriously should we take the Old Testament? (This was dealt with by Asif in June) • How does God speak to us? • ‘Jesus died for our sins so we don’t need to worry’ – can this be right? • How can God allow suffering to exist? Is it fair? I wonder whether you have been asking similar questions! The suggestion has been that these questions, tackled on a monthly basis, should be dealt with from the pulpit – by Asif, Peter Hills, Lyn McKay and Barrie Tabraham – and possibly in a ‘café church’ format. The Preaching Plan will show the details, and we are wondering whether the questions will keep coming and the series will be extended! Joan Tabraham

13 Social Media Training On Saturday 9th June, 25 people from across our circuit, plus visitors from neighbouring circuits, gathered at Merrow to learn more about social media and how it can benefit our churches. The session was led by Laura Treneer, Innovations Director at Christian Publishing and Outreach. Laura began by blitzing us with some statistics about Social media.

• 83% of adults in the UK are using Social Media to some degree. • 57% of adults check their phones, including accessing their preferred social media sites, first thing every morning Laura challenged us to consider the use of widely used (and free) social media sites, such as Facebook and Instagram, as quick and easy communication mechanisms to the outside world. They are fairly intuitive for beginners, after the initial investment of time to become familiar with them, whether you are initiating the communication post or just reading it. We were informed that photos and questions give the post a higher priority in the application and the inclusion of a video is a certain way of ensuring a high profile. In Facebook there is an option to ‘boost’ the post. This incurs a small cost but one of the delegates was able to report, from experience, that an outlay of around £9 ensured that the post about a special event at his church was seen by 120,000 local people. It is even possible to tailor the audience a post will reach. Most of the Circuit churches have a website. Laura gave us another statistic: 72% of people who look at websites do so from their smartphone. Not all of our websites ‘resolve’, (i.e. are fully readable) on smartphones – we checked! Websites should be up to date and relevant. They should be inviting and interesting. Include photos where you can (not forgetting the rules around GDPR!) and if including a photo of the church building try and ensure that the church looks full! A photo of the building, however beautiful, does not entice people to join you for worship. A good social media tool for use within the church family is WhatsApp. Anyone who has a smart phone can use this application which is easily downloaded and free. It is the most secure tool as all transmissions are fully encrypted. You can easily have a group for Church Stewards or Messy Church leaders or use it as a virtual prayer group: one of our circuit churches does this. There are, of course, many other applications but the main message is that social media is here to stay and it is constantly changing to meet the needs of a changing audience. Don’t let the excuse that ‘our congregation are older and are not interested’ prevent you from using these tools. They are already in the church, the people you are trying to reach are not and they are very much interested in social media applications! Thanks go to Sue Howson for organising this event.

Allen Weedon

The Big Read

On 1st September 2018 the Wey Valley Circuit will celebrate its second anniversary. This year Linda Weedon is suggesting that we celebrate our second, third and fourth anniversaries by reading the entire Bible from cover to cover, one chapter a day. Commencing on 1st September 2018 this will keep us all busy until 2nd December 2021. So please join Linda in this long term act of worship. You will be able to join in from the comfort of your home, at what ever time of the day/evening/night suits your life style and commitments. You could read the chapter by yourself or with a family member or with a friend. Contact Linda [email protected] or the Circuit Office if you would like a copy of the spreadsheet sent to you.

Which Way?

Some of you will have heard Sylvia Boys, from the Berkshire Surrey Borders circuit, preach around our circuit as she very kindly helped us out a few times over the last year.

Excitingly, she is about to have a book published. Entitled 'Which Way to the Promised Land?' , it is being published by Apostolos Publishing and will be available from 1st September.

It comprises 40 daily studies which are aimed at encouraging people to engage with God's purposes for their lives.

It will be available from Christian bookshops and priced at £4.99.

Stoughton At the Circuit service in June we were led by some of our local preachers exploring the idea that God may be calling us to serve Him. During the service Frances Roberts was presented with her 25 year long service preacher award although Frances told us that she began preaching in various areas of the country long before she completed her final exam in 1993. At Stoughton we are very blessed to have Frances as a member of our congregation and thank her for her many years of service.

In early June we celebrated 123 years of witness at our Church Anniversary weekend. On the Saturday evening we enjoyed a supper followed by wonderful entertainment from singer Frances Fry with songs from many West End musicals. There was plenty of audience participation! Asif led our service of thanksgiving on the Sunday morning and we also presented Frances with a bouquet on gaining her 25 year preacher award.

For some 12 years we have had a book stall which initially contributed to church funds but from September 2009 has donated around £1,500 to Junior Mission for All and Action for Children. During that time the stall has been looked after and stocked by John and Joyce Phillips. John has also taken part in an annual Guildford charity walk raising a substantial amount which has supplemented the book sales. We would like to record our sincere thanks to John and Joyce for their commitment and support over so many years. By the time you read this edition of The Wey Forward we will have held (hopefully in the open air!) a coffee morning and book sale with donations going to JMA and Action for

Children.

We continue to have the Toddlies group and a nursery hiring our premises during the week and it is good to have so many from our local community coming into the building. On 15th September we are taking part in a community event to celebrate the end of the first World War with a fete on the green at Cardwells Keep in Stoughton. Let's pray for good weather!

As we start another Methodist year we welcome Rev Keith Beckingham, Rev Sydney Samuel Lake and their families to our Circuit and ask God's blessing on their ministry.

Linda Macbeth

Save the Date - Prayer Training — 14th Oct 2018

Details are yet to be confirmed but the two hour session on the afternoon of Sunday 14th October will be in three sections:

• Theology of prayer • Prayers with children and young people • Prayers with small groups

Details regarding times and venue will be available shortly.

Walton-on-Thames

Sunday 24th June 2018 marked the end of Refugee Week and our minister, Rev Claire Hargreaves, based our morning worship around this theme.

We looked at ‘Welcoming the Stranger’ based on the reading from Genesis 18, which told us about Abraham eagerly welcoming strangers into his home and offering them the best hospitality he could. We were challenged whether we welcomed strangers into our own homes.

Then we looked at a reading from 2 Corinthians 8, which talks about where our hearts are in our giving – ‘The Grace of Giving’. This reminded us that it is not the amount of our giving, but the attitude with which we give.

In the third part, we considered the ‘Christian Response’, looking at the reading from Matthew 25 – The Sheep and the Goats – a reminder that Jesus sees our actions towards others.

Finally, we wrote our prayers for others on tags which we have displayed in the front window, to show to passers-by our commitment to caring for refugees.

It has been a privilege to have Claire as our minister for these past few years, during which time we have learned so much about this cause which is close to her heart. We look forward to welcoming and working with Sydney Samuel Lake and anticipate new challenges and experiences in our Church life.

Chris Mills

West Horsley We are looking forward to working with Asif when he becomes our minister in September, and renewing our links with the Merrow church. It will be a pleasure too, to meet Martha and get to know her better. Claire Hargreaves has been inspirational during her time with us, not least for introducing us to “Appreciating Church”. We carried out one of the exercises, words for a poster, in a Sunday service and she will focus on another at the discussions of our House Group in July. We are finding the roadworks outside our chapel increasingly wearing – the road has been blocked for two months, making access complicated. This has definitely affected the numbers coming to our Thursday Coffee Mornings and to our Occasional lunch. Hopefully, by the time you read this, things will be back to normal.

Margaret Faulkner

Weybridge As we commence the new Connexional year, we look forward with anticipation to the arrival of Rev Sydney Samuel Lake and his family. We pray that, as a congregation, we will give them all the help we can to assist them to settle in this new area and that, together, we will go forward in Christ, to seek new ways of providing a Mission in Weybridge. We will work through Appreciating Church together, looking at new ways to serve God as a Methodist Church in Weybridge. Fresh challenges are out there if we only look!

Over the last few months we have welcomed some visitors to our church and they have become fairly regular in attendance. We pray that they will continue to experience spiritual growth and build friendships with the congregation. Left: Weybridge’s ‘Welcome’ Wall

During this quarter we celebrate Harvest Festival and Church Anniversary (the 118th). We are also hosting a Café Church on 28th October at 6.30pm and this service will be led by Rev Keith Beckingham – all are welcome to join us.

Regular activities continue;

 The Clothes & Bedding bank will be open on 15th September, 19th October and 17th November; all from 11.30am - 1.30pm

 Our monthly coffee morning will be held on 8th September, 13th October and 10th November; all between 10am – 12 noon (held on the Addlestone Church premises)

 Church members will be assisting at the Weybridge Old Folks club on 20th September, 18th October and 22nd November providing the lavish tea which the old folks so enjoy.

Linda Weedon

The retiring collection from the Circuit Service on 3rd June totalled £315.60. This money has been added to the Circuit training fund for preachers and worship leaders – thank-you to everyone who contributed.

19 Woking People of Faith Second Pilgimage of Understanding

Woking People of Faith is a small charity set up over 10 years ago. Their aim is to draw together people of all faiths. They organize social and educational events which help to deepen understanding between people of different faiths and they welcome a wide range of supporters to all their activities. I was contacted by one of the Trustees, John West, and asked if Trinity would host a lunch to mark the end of one of their walks. We were pleased to do so and the Rev Barrie Tabraham agreed to give a talk about the roots and history of Methodism. It was good to meet with people of other faiths and John has very kindly sent this account of the day written by Marian Nash from St Paul’s Church.

Daphne Lander

The Second Pilgrimage of Understanding was due to be held on 3rd March 2018, but the heavy snowfall postponed it until 28th April .The day dawned cool, overcast and dreary, but it wasn’t actually raining! About 28 pilgrims signed in at Christchurch and were given a warm welcome by Simon Trick, our Chair. Rev Martin Smith then gave a talk about the church’s history; the kind of services that were held; and the congregation’s participation in the community. We were able to see where their baptismal pool was located and a beautiful stained glass window from a distance. Then it was off to the Al Asr Centre. When we opened the door and went in, we were amazed at the welcome we received. Many of the members were there and had prepared a sumptuous feast of sandwiches, cakes and biscuits accompanied by tea and coffee. Dr Naqvi gave an address expressing his desire that we would all acknowledge our similarities and not dwell on our differences. A smile was all that was needed to make friends. The Centre began in 1995 and the building serves the community too. It was a great opportunity for the pilgrims to chat to the Muslims there. Then Dr Naqvi and three young men joined our walkers. The High Viz jackets caused some comments and questions from other pedestrians as we wended our way to St Mary’s, Horsell. Mike Couper gave us a talk about this historical building and pointed out several ‘must-see’ features. After ten minutes wandering around the church, he treated us to his excellent homemade cakes and more tea or coffee. Tearing ourselves away, we continued along scenic footpaths to Trinity Methodist Church, where we were served a chicken and/or vegetable curry with rice, crispy poppadum and salad delivered by Thali Thali an Indian and Nepalese Restaurant.

Rev Barrie Tabraham clearly felt passionate about John and Charles Wesley, some of the founders of the Methodist Movement, and gave us a detailed account of their lives. Then Daphne Lander explained how the Methodist Hierarchy was constructed and then how their church was organised. Once again it was clear that the Trinity congregation were concerned with and were helping in the local community.

Simon closed the pilgrimage about 2.15pm after a brief look at future events. Everyone agreed that they had thoroughly enjoyed the event, especially the opportunity to talk to others whilst walking around Woking.

We were very grateful to all the speakers, sound engineers and helpers at the various venues. At the last count there were over 54 people involved in some way. The stats are:

23 Christians; 6 Muslims; 1 Sikh; 1 Baha’i took part in the walk at some point.

There were also approx. 12 Muslims who were just in Al Asr Centre. 1 Christian speaker was at St. Mary’s. Another 5 Christians plus 2 children and 1 Muslim joined us for lunch at Trinity Methodist Church plus a speaker and sound engineer – both Christians.

Total number taking part 33 Christians; 19 Muslims; 1 Baha’I; 1 Sikh = 54 people.

Marian Nash

Montgomery Trust Lecture—The ‘New Atheism’ The lecture held on 9th May was very well attended and very well received. Here are some of the comments we have received: “The subject was important as it is not something I know much about and I don’t know how to argue with those who say there is no God. The speaker was clearly very highly qualified to talk about this subject. Trinity is well able to host events such as this and so I would say the venue was ideal”. “I'm pleased there were no opening/closing devotions, rather just a straight lecture - though I'm sure it was prayed about! Such devotions can put off people from right outside the church and this was a good opportunity to invite these folk”. “It was good to see a fair number of people there from the Methodist Churches in the circuit and to have such a qualified speaker”. “Much of the material was new to me - I hadn't read up on it (and probably wouldn't have even had I known) and there were times I felt I was struggling to understand but that's not a bad thing”. “The venue was good, the topic was very relevant, and the speaker was authoritative”. If you have any other comments from the evening or ideas for topics which may be covered in the future please contact the Circuit Office.

Save the date – Mission Supper 23rd Feb 2019 The 2019 Circuit Mission Supper will be on Saturday 23rd February. The speaker will be the Revd Mike Long, minister of Notting Hill Methodist Church, talking about the Church’s response to the Grenfell Tower fire. Mike is a former minister of Trinity Woking and former Superintendent of the old Woking and Walton-on-Thames Circuit. Details of the venue will be available soon.

A note to contributors It is our practice to publish each edition of The Wey Forward, in its pdf format, on the Circuit website. The Wey Forward is an important source of information about the life of the Circuit and what is going on in each of the churches across it. We want to share it with others. However, we recognise that some contributors may be uncomfortable with a mention on the internet. We will be happy to omit names and any other personal details in any future issue if requested to do so. Please advise at the time of submitting the copy.

A Message From The Editor I hope you have found the latest edition of ‘The Wey Forward’ both interesting and useful. Thank-you to everyone who contributed to the articles. As always, it has been a real pleasure to receive and read each item as I put the newsletter together.

If you would find a large print version of the magazine useful then please let me know and I can arrange that for you.

We would like the focus of the magazine to be a forward looking one. So as you plan your events, bear in mind that the rest of the circuit would love to know about

them.

The deadline for Issue 10 of The Wey Forward is midnight 22nd October 2018 Please send your items (and photos) to [email protected]

I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sue Howson

22 Diary Dates

Date Time Event Venue

September 2018 1st September Start of THE BIG READ 2nd September 6.30pm Welcome Service Walton-on-Thames 3rd September 12noon - 1pm A Time For Reflection St Mary’s, Guildford 8th September 10.00am - 12 noon Coffee Morning Addlestone 8th September 9.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning Byfleet 8th-9th Sept National Heritage Weekend—Byfleet Church open Byfleet 13th September 10.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning supporting MATRIX Merrow 15th September 11.30am - 1.30pm Clothes and Bedding Bank open Weybridge 15th September 2.00pm - 4.00pm Clothing Bank with refreshments Knaphill 15th September 12 noon - 4.30pm Stoughton celebrate the end of WWI at Cardwell’s Keep Stoughton 16th September 10.30am Harvest with an international theme Merrow 21st September 8.00pm - 11.30pm Night Vision St Mary’s, Guildford 22nd September 7.00pm Harvest Supper with Country & Western Concert Byfleet 22nd September 10.00am - 12 noon Coffee Morning Knaphill 22nd September 9.30am - 12.30pm Practical Aspects of Spirituality St Mary’s, Guildford 23th September 10.30am Morning worship featuring one of the BIG questions Merrow 27th September 10.30am - 12 noon Coffee and Cake St Mary’s, Guildford 30th September 6.30pm TIC Harvest ‘Songs of Praise’ St Pius October 2018 1st October 12noon - 1pm A Time For Reflection St Mary’s, Guildford 6th October 10.00am - 4.00pm Circuit Mission Day Byfleet 11th October 10.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning in aid of the Bible Society Merrow 13th October 10.00am - 12 noon Coffee Morning Addlestone 13th October 9.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning for All We Can Byfleet 13th October 3.00pm - 5.00pm Messy Church Godalming 14th October 10.30am Harvest Festival Godalming 14th October TBC Prayer Training TBC 14th October 6.30pm Café Style Service Addlestone 19th October 11.30am - 1.30pm Clothes and Bedding Bank open Weybridge 20th October 2.00pm - 4.00pm Clothing Bank with refreshments Knaphill 22nd October Midnight Deadline for copy for Issue 10 of The Wey Forward 25th October 10.30am - 12 noon Coffee and Cake St Mary’s, Guildford 27th October 10.30am - 12 noon Coffee and Cake St Mary’s, Guildford 27th October 10.00am - 12 noon Coffee Morning Knaphill 28th October 10.30am Morning worship featuring one of the BIG questions Merrow 28th October 6.30pm Café Church led by Rev Keith Beckingham Weybridge November 2018 (and beyond) 5th November 12noon - 1pm A Time For Reflection St Mary’s, Guildford 8th November 10.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning supporting the work of the British Legion Merrow 10th November 10.00am - 12 noon Coffee Morning Addlestone 10th November 9.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning Byfleet 17th November 11.30am - 1.30pm Clothes and Bedding Bank open Weybridge 17th November 2.00pm - 4.00pm Clothing Bank with refreshments Knaphill 22nd November 10.30am - 12 noon Coffee and Cake St Mary’s, Guildford 23rd-25th Nov 3Generate Southport 25th November 10.30am Shoe Box Sunday and another BIG question Merrow 29th November 12.15pm for 12.30pm ‘Waiting’ —first of this year’s Advent Reflections St Mary’s, Guildford 30th November 8.00pm - 11.30pm Night Vision St Mary’s, Guildford 2nd December 6.30pm Advent Carol Service Merrow 13th December 10.30am - 12.30pm Coffee Morning supporting AFC Merrow 15 December TBC (but usually 4pm) Carols on the Green Merrow 16 December TBC Carol Service Merrow 23